Javier Hernandez, along with Robin van Persie, was sold in the summer, with the Mexican scoring 19 goals in 21 games for Bayer Leverkusen this season. With James Wilson also loaned out to Brighton, Van Gaal has moved to defend the sales.

“We could have kept all the strikers, but then there would have been a lot of strikers in the stands,” Van Gaal said. “They’re not happy then, they want to leave. It’s the story of Hernandez, for example. He wants to play, but I can imagine that he can’t always play.

“Too many strikers of high quality for the same position is too much pressure, but now I don’t have the chance to change. Now I have given confidence to the players to play there.

“You can say, yes [that is wrong]. But you cannot change that any more. Maybe you may be right, but that you cannot see that in advance.”